Lithium batteries – cargo only!

IATA this month released an update on the carriage of lithium metal batteries. When shipped on their own, these batteries will be prohibited on passenger aircraft from 1 January 2015. In summary:

Fires in flight involving certain types and quantities of lithium metal batteries have the potential to result in an uncontrolled fire leading to a catastrophic failure of the airframe

Lithium batteries (when shipped by themselves) should be restricted to cargo aircraft only

The prohibition does not apply to lithium metal batteries packed with equipment (PI 969) or contained in equipment (PI 970) (i.e. passenger aircraft can carry lithium batteries if they are packed with or contained in equipment).